Highlights from Top Gun Flightline
It’s been a busy week and Top Gun 2017 is now in the record books. Here are some highlight shots from the flightline. Be sure to pencil in next year for this Greatest RC show in the country.
Top Gun — Day One — Some Snapshots and the Flight Scores
We have several friends and flying buddies on the Top Gun flightline looking for some action. We’ll update the site as we get more images from Paradise Field! Today’s First Round Flight Scores by David Hart. (Above) Ray Labonte’s CARF-Models Skygate Edition Bae Hawk Frank Fels with his 1/3-scale Balsa USA Fokker D.VII Craftsmanship […]
Road to Top Gun — Update: Bret Becker’s North American XB-70 Valkyrie flies!
So, after a rebuild of an old project, Bret Becker successfully test flew his Top Gun entry, the North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie. Check out this great flight shot taken recently at the Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, OH. Great going Bret! See ya at Top Gun! Intended to be the ultimate […]
Road to Top Gun — Phillip Koury and his Wake Island Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat
Traveling from Picayune, Mississippi, Phillip Koury will be competing in the Expert class with his impressive Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat. Built with laser cut parts for the Jerry Bates plans, Phil’s 1/5-scale Wildcat was not build it initially for scale competition. Phil enjoys reading Military History and one day he checked out the book “Wake Island […]
Top Gun Video Interview from Warbird Alley
Without a doubt, the most popular tent this year at Top Gun belonged to P.J. Ash. P.J. is the motivator behind the Warbird Alley gang, and Warbird Alley is the watering hole at the Top Gun flightline! It’s also where the MAN crew set up our home base! This year, P.J. had three huge tents to house all the models […]
Road to Top Gun: Mike Barbee’s King Air C-90 — Update!
Over this past weekend we saw that long time Top Gun competitor Mike Barbee successfully test flew his new King Air C-90. This electric powered twin is amazing and it is very difficult to tell it from the full-size aircraft. Congratulations Mike, see you in a few more weeks! (Photos by Jenni Aldeman). If you’ve […]
Top Gun: James and Jesse Russell’s P-47 Thunderbolts
Competing for the first time at Top Gun are the father/son team of James and Jesse Russell who will be competing separately in the Pro-Am Sport class. Shown in the opening photo, Jesse’s father’s airplane is a Yellow Aircraft design, and it is modeled after George Sutcliffe’s aircraft nicknamed Junior. George was a close personal […]
Road to Top Gun: Gérson Nissola’s Turboprop Tucano
Coming in again from Brazil, Gérson L. Nissola will be flying his impressive Turboprop Tucano for his second time in the Pro AM Sport category. Built from a CARF-Model kit Gérson is using a JR 12X radio system and made more than 80 modifications to the model to improve its scale looks and detailing. The […]
Top Gun Will Berninger’s T-34C Mentor
Competing for his second time at Top Gun, Will Berninger will be flying in the Pro Am Pro Prop class with his 117 inch Raytheon (Beechcraft) T-34C Mentor. Will purchased the T-34C in 2014 from champion scale builder and flier Mike Barbee of Columbus Ohio. Will competed with it at the 2014 Scale Nationals and […]
Top Gun Roger Niolet’s Nieuport 28 C.1
Involved with RC nearly all his life, Roger Niolet from Sarasota FL have been involved in competition flying RC airplanes for the last 10 years. This year Roger will again be flying his Nieuport 28 C.1 as a Team Scale entry. The builder of the Nieuport is David Barry worked very hard to build and […]
Top Gun Dean Copeland’s L-39 Albatros
Coming to Top Gun from Omaha, NE., Dean Copeland will be flying his impressive Aero L-39 Albatros. This will be Dean’s 10th year competing at Top Gun, and his first year flying a jet in the Pro Jet class. The plane is a BVM 1/5th scale L-39 Albatros, it has a wing span of 74 […]
Top Gun Walt Alexander’s Family Affair
From Decatur, TN, Walter Alexander will be flying his 1/3 scale Fokker D.VII in the Pro-AM Sport class at Top Gun. Walt’s aircraft is modeled after Carl Degelow’s aircraft from WWII. Built from a Balsa USA 1/3-scale kit, it has a 118 inch span and weighs in at 38 pounds. Walt chose a Zenoah GT80 […]
